ting ground
for insects. Here and there, too, were tiger pits, carefully covered
over with sticks and leaves, and so well concealed, that in several
cases I had a narrow escape from falling into them. They are shaped
like an iron furnace, wider at the bottom than the top, and are perhaps
fifteen or twenty feet deep so that it would be almost impossible for
a person unassisted to get out of one. Formerly a sharp stake was stuck
erect in the bottom; but after an unfortunate traveller had been killed
by falling on one, its use was forbidden. There are always a few tigers
roaming about Singapore, and they kill on an average a Chinaman every
day, principally those who work in the gambir plantations, which are
always made in newly-cleared jungle. We heard a tiger roar once or twice
in the evening, and it was rather nervous work hunting for insects among
the fallen trunks and old sawpits when one of these savage animals might
be lurking close by, awaiting an opportunity to spring upon us.

Several hours in the middle of every fine day were spent in these
patches of forest, which were delightfully cool and shady by contrast
with the bare open country we had to walk over to reach them. The
vegetation was most luxuriant, comprising enormous forest trees, as well
as a variety of ferns, caladiums, and other undergrowth, and abundance
of climbing rattan palms. Insects were exceedingly abundant and very
interesting, and every day furnished scores of new and curious forms.

In about two months I obtained no less than 700 species of beetles,
a large proportion of which were quite new, and among them were 130
distinct kinds of the elegant Longicorns (Cerambycidae), so much
esteemed by collectors. Almost all these were collected in one patch of
jungle, not more than a square mile in extent, and in all my subsequent
travels in the East I rarely if ever met with so productive a spot. This
exceeding productiveness was due in part no doubt to some favourable
conditions in the soil, climate, and vegetation, and to the season being
very bright and sunny, with sufficient showers to keep everything
fresh. But it was also in a great measure dependent, I feel sure, on
the labours of the Chinese wood-cutters. They had been at work here for
several years, and during all that time had furnished a continual supply
of dry and dead and decaying leaves and bark, together with abundance of
wood and sawdust, for the nourishment of insects and their larvae.